Winter Formal

Had Alyssa, her date and two friends for dinner tonight. It was their school’s Winter Formal and they ate Italian food here before they went to the dance. Don’t they all look gorgeous? The dresses in the same shade were not planned ahead of time…just happened that way!

Jeff took the younger ones down to his office for KFC and a movie to get them out of the house while these four had dinner. I was amazed at how quiet it was and how easy it was to cook without 4 more kids underfoot. I realized that could be my life someday…in about another fifteen years.

Facebook, Schmacebook

Yes, I know it’s been MONTHS since I updated this blog. I had friends try to convince me that Facebook was such a great place to hang out that I didn’t need to blog anymore. I could just send updates to my Facebook page. Guess what? Shhhh…don’t tell anyone, but I think Facebook is mostly a waste of time. Oh never mind, you can tell whoever you want because that is the opinion I had before I joined Facebook as well.

It does have its positives such as finding friends who I haven’t seen in years. I enjoy looking at their photo albums and catching up with their lives. However, I’m really not interested in mucking my way through updates that tell me you just won a swagbuck or that you had spaghetti with homemade noodles and a salad with tomatoes, croutons, cucumbers, bell peppers and ranch dressing on the side for dinner and are now off to read a good book. Being the cynic that I am, I want to reply, “Gee, don’t forget to tell us when you get up to go potty too!”, but something tells me that my “friends” list would shrink rather rapidly if I said that. With 5 kids at home and very limited time, I also don’t want to farm, nor do I want to engage in a snowball or water balloon fight so please quit telling me that I have been hit with a water balloon and have something like 24 hours to respond or I will lose. I surrender…you can win the fight. It’s OK. So, I guess I’m back.

The beauty of my blog? If you don’t like it, ya don’t have to read it and you don’t have to become my new internet “friend” either to access it. Even better, I won’t tell you everytime I win a swagbuck. Agreed? Sounds like a deal.

Red-neck missionary

Got this photo tonight from someone in Texas. It came via Sprint so I am guessing it is from a cell phone? No message, nothing. Just a subject header with my son’s name on it. BTW, it took awhile, but we figured out the cast says Arlington (upside down) which is where he is currently working as a zone leader. Whose hat? Your guess is as good as mine.

Broken wrist

No one can say that Taylor ever does things halfway. From breaking his leg in a soccer game to now breaking his wrist as a missionary, he tends to do things 100%. He was playing basketball on his preparation day and is now sporting a royal blue cast after falling hard on his wrist a few weeks ago. He broke the scaphoid bone and here is an excerpt from his letter home yesterday:

Elder H. here in Arlington… with a full solid cast (it’s a royal blue!) on my left arm and missionary signatures adorning it. Yep. Scaphoid fracture. I had a bone scan on Monday, and in the words of Dr. Milne, “Well, Elder H., leave it to you to have the freak accident fracture that doesn’t show up on x-rays. Have fun in a cast in the middle of the Texas summer!” Oy… So yeah. Been a fun week.

I saw this great pic above and am guessing that hitting his wrist this way is how he broke it.

Million dollar smile

Actually, it only cost about $5K compliments of her orthodontist, but I love this photo of Alysssa. I took it recently at her sister’s birthday dinner and it clearly conveys who she is. She just came home from Girls’ camp a few weeks ago and a leader sent me an email telling me how much she loves Alyssa and her cheerful attitude. She is such a great example not only to her siblings, but her peers as well.

Our Family Theme

“Don’t touch! It’s mine!” How many times a day do I hear that? Far too often. Usually it’s from V., our foster daughter, which is normal for a 3 year old. She thinks everything belongs to her.

The older kids also, however, seem to have an extra strong claim on ownership. Just in case there was any doubt, Micheline decided to let us all know that this water bottle belongs to her.

6 months locked

Here’s the lastest pics of Micheline’s hair after it was locked about 5 months. She’s been locked for 6 1/2 months now if you count from when I took out the original ones and made them smaller, and we are loving it! The only thing we hate is when people think they need to run their hands through her hair. Locked hair….women with pregnant bellies…for some reason people think they are public property, but Micheline has gotten pretty good at telling people, “Please don’t touch my hair.” I can hardly wait until it is long enough to pull up into some hairdos, but right now we are just enjoying the freedom of being “wash and wear.”

Great news from China!

Friends of ours have finally received their referral after 39 long months of waiting. Click here to see their new daughter’s darling face. Such kissable looking cheeks!